The trial for a Lafayette multimillionaire charged with orchestrating his wife's 2017 kidnapping has been pushed back to March 18, court records show.

Michael Handley's trial was originally slated to begin Tuesday.

His attorney, Kevin Stockstill, requested a new date because both parties are still in the discovery phase of the legal process. A district judge granted the request.

Before his trial, Handley is scheduled to be in court Feb. 21 for a pre-trial hearing, records show.

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Michael Handley is seen in 2008, when he was CEO of Townsend.(Photo11: Advertiser file photo)

Handley remains in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, where he has been housed since his arrest shortly after the August 2017 incident. Jail records show no bond has been set on numerous charges, including conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, violation of protective orders and online impersonation.

Last year, Handley was indicted and later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges. In April 2018, a judge ruled Handley is mentally competent to stand trial.

Handley became a multimillionaire after launching a successful chain of drug treatment centers, which he later sold to a larger company.

Authorities said that in August 2017, Handley hired two Mississippi men to kidnap his estranged wife, Schanda Handley, from their Lafayette home. He allegedly rented the van used in the incident.

The plan went awry when the alleged kidnappers hit a traffic snarl on Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge. The men tried to escape the delay by driving on the shoulder, which drew the attention of a law enforcement officer. That led to a chase, during which the kidnappers jumped into a nearby waterway and drowned.

Police found Schanda Handley restrained and nearly naked in the back of the van.